Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s “Space Age” group show couldn’t have come at a better time. NASA’s discovery of liquid water on Mars has placed the “final frontier” at the forefront of the public consciousness to an extent not seen for a long time.Throughout history, artists have continually and repeatedly looked to the sky and the frontier of “space” as a source of inspiration and motivation for a range of inquiries traversing the conceptual and the concrete and spanning all mediums from sculpture to painting to video.Taking mankind’s fascination with the skies as the point of departure, Ropac invited a diverse group of artists from different generations and practices to contribute works inspired by the notion of outer space and its multifarious connotations, from science to utopia.Through historic and commissioned works by 20 contemporary artists situated throughout the four vast halls of Ropac’s Paris Pantin gallery, “Space Age” is a fascinating and engaging exploration of the way these artists have responded to mankind’s constantly evolving relationship with “space.”According to Ropac, “Space Age” proposes a collective view of the multiple fascinations, desires, projections, and relentless scientific and artistic curiosity evoked by the idea of “space,” from the desire of conquering space to the contemplation and representation of the skies.Works created especially for the exhibition include a new installation by Korean artist Lee Bul, a diptych of outer space and a female astronaut reflecting into each other by Robert Longo, and a new display of phallic rockets by Sylvie Fleury from her “First Spaceship on Venus” series.Other highlights include Dan Flavin’s “‘Monument’ for V. Tatlin,” Ilya & Emilia Kabakov’s “Fallen Angel,” which references the Greek myth of Icarus; Tom Sachs’ “Challenger” space shuttle inspired “The Crawler”; and Cory Arcangel’s installation “MIG29 Soviet Fighter Plane and Clouds.”“Space Age” is at Ropac’s Paris Pantin gallery until December 23, 2015Click the slideshow to see some of the works in the exhibitionCory Arcangel | Richard Artschwager | Jules de Balincourt | Stephan Balkenhol | Philippe Bradshaw | Lee Bul | Harun Farocki | Dan Flavin | Sylvie Fleury | Ilya & Emilia Kabakov | Alex Katz | Anselm Kiefer | Robert Longo | Patrick Neu | Jack Pierson | Robert Rauschenberg | James Rosenquist | Tom Sachs | Sturtevant | Not VitalVideo by Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
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